Grain door



March 23 1926 T. v. STRALKA GRAIN DOOR Filed Feb. 7. 1925' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 23 1926.

T. v. STRALKA GRAIN DOOR Filed Feb. 7, 1925 2 Sheet-Sheet Patented Mar. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE."

GRAIN DOOR.

Application filed February 7, 1925. Serial No. 7,571.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEOPHILUS V. STRALKA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Colgate, in the county of Steele and State of North Dakota, have invented a new and useful Grain Door, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to grain car door construction, and aims to provide novel W means whereby a quantity of grain may be removed from the car to relieve the pressure of the grain on the door and permit the door to be slid to its open position to release the car to beunloaded.

13 Another object of the invention is to provide means for locking the door in its open or closed positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a rod which may be passed through the various corrugations of the door to provide a handle which may be operated from either the inside or outside of the door. With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and' claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of 30 the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating a car door constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Figure 1. Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the door detachably secured when in open position. Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference character 5 indicates the side of a grain car in which the door opening 6 is provided. The door opening 6 is normally closed by means of the door 7 forming the essence of the present invention, which door is formed preferably of sheet metal material and corrugated in a manneras shown at 8, which corrugations strengthen the door throughout its length and prevent buckling of the door under the weight of the material bearingthereagainst and supported within the car.

Beams 9 which form a part of the usual 6 car construction, are arranged adjacent to the side edges of the door opening, which beams support the flanged members 10 and 11, which flanged members provide pockets for holding the door against movement, when moved to its closed position.

The flange 11 cooperates with the flange 12 formed at one end of the door proper to lock the door in its closed position as shown by Figure 2 of the drawings. Secured within the car is a flanged member 13 which is adapted to cooperate with the flange 12 of the door when the door is in its open position to lock the door against movement. When the door is in its open position, the forward edge of the door is received behind the flange 11.

The reference character 14 indicates a wear plate. whlch is secured to the floor of the car, at a point adjacent to the door opening and extends to a point adjacent to the flanged member 13 so that the door may slide freely from its open to its closed position, or vice versa.

In order that the door will be prevented from moving laterally, a flange 15 is provided on the wear plate 14, the flange 15 also extending to a point adjacent to the flanged member 13 to act as a stop at the endof the wear plate 14, the stop being 96 indicated at 16.

The body portion of the door is cut away to provide an opening 17, portions of the door adjacent to the opening being bent inwardlyas at 18 to provide guides for the 100 sliding closure 19 which has one of its extremities extended laterally at 20 to provide a hand-grip for moving the door 19 to its open or closed position.

At the end of the cut out portion is an outwardly extended portion 21 that acts as a stop to restrict sliding movement of the closure 19.

The corrugated portion of the door 7 is formed with openings to accommodate the rod 22, portions of the rod being disposed on both sides of the door to provide a handle whereby the door may be operated either from the interior of the car or exteriorly thereof.

When the door is moved to its closed position, the door is locked by its engagement with the flange members 10 and 11, the weight of the material within the car being relied upon to force the door outwardly to set up a binding action between the door and its frame.

In order to remove the contents of the car, the closure 19 is moved to its open :position, allowing a quantity of the grain to fall from the car, relieving the pressure on the door to the end that the door may be slid to its open position and the contents of the car removed.

It might be further stated that when'unloading grain, the grain door may be slid back into the car or it may be taken out of the car and lifted back into the car and placed in its idle position when the car made empty.

When the cars 'are not to be used for hauling grain, these doors maybe removed and stored where they may be readily replaced, should it be desired to make a car ready for hauling grain.

I claim:-

In a car door construction, vertical flange members positioned adjacent @to the door of a car, a wear plate adj aoent to the lower end of the door and having an upstanding flange forming a part thereof and having a rear- Wardly extended flange formed integral therewith, said door including a length of sheet metal formed with central corrugated portions, a rod extending vertically with respect to the ends o't the door, said rod passing through the corrugations to provide hand grips, said rod having its-ends bent to prevent the rod from moving with respect to the door, an inwardly extended flange at one end of the door and adapted to move behind one of the flanged members to hold the door against outward movement, andthe forward edge of the door adapted to move behind the opposite flange member of the door.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my sig nature.

THEOPl-IIUUS VINCENT STRALKA. 

